Wayne's Word Index Noteworthy Plants Trivia Lemnaceae Biology 101 Botany Scenic Wildflowers Trains Spiders & Insects Search  Wayne's Trivia Notes Index   Wayne's Alien Species Index   Wayne's Remember When Index   Wayne's Trivia Notes #27   © W.P. Armstrong    All Facebook Notes & Images    Published Occasionally On Facebook Go To Latest Trivia Note On This Page Wayne's Trivia Note #586 (22 May 2019) My latest house guest: A spider that superficially resembles poisonous brown recluse, only without distinct violin marking. With a 2 yr old who touches everything regularly visiting my home, I must carefully screen all resident spiders! On 27 Jan 2021, I sumitted my 2 photos to iNaturalist and several reviewers thought it was a fase widow (genus Steatoda). Several species occur in my area, including S. grossa. It resembles the male S. grossa image on BugGuide labeled "Bathroom Spider." Some species of Steatoda can bite and are mildly venomous. See Wild Animals At Wayne's Word. Wayne's Trivia Note #587 (22 May 2019) My front yard on Memorial Day 2019. Spring of 2019 has been an incredible year for flowering plants! Wayne's Trivia Note #588 (1 June 2019) This large female spider's web is currently (30 May 2019) blocking my backyard walkway. There are many on-line descriptions of the design on her back, including a woman's face, a cat or bat, & Jesus on a cross. I think it is the scary face of an alien visitor with lateral horns! Wayne's Trivia Note #589 (3 June 2019) To my surprise, this was not the entrance to an ant nest. It is a ground-nesting metallic sweat bee, so named because they apparently are attracted to the salt in human sweat. I collected one of these for my entomology class at CSULA almost 60 years ago. I have kept it all these years. Wayne's Trivia Note #590 (6 June 2019) This might be a mouse spider (Scotophaeus blackwalli); however, its abdomen is not velvety like a mouse. I don't know why my house has so many spiders. Maybe it's because I release them outside and usually never kill them. Wayne's Trivia Note #591 (10 June 2019) Native larkspurs in California are typically blue or shades of purple. My favorite is the scarlet larkspur (Delphinium cardinale). Several patches of this striking perennial wildflower grow in the hills bordering Palomar College. This June (2019) they were absolutely spectacular. Wayne's Trivia Note #592 (16 June 2019) Happy Father's Day (16 June 2019). My father working in his carpenter shop (City of Arcadia, CA). This was a marvelous place to work on school projects when I was in grade school. Wayne's Trivia Note #593 (17 June 2019) Just reviewed manuscript for Adansonia (scholarly journal of French Museum of Natural History, Paris). It is about discovery of Wolffiella oblonga on wet rocks behind waterfall in Costa Rica. This is a new and unusual location for this bizarre, minute, seldom-seen flowering plant! Wayne's Trivia Note #594 (19 June 2019) This juvenile Cooper's Hawk with a lot of down feathers has already discovered my bird feeder! Wayne's Trivia Note #595 (5 July 2019) This happened to me on recent trip to Sequoia National Park. Technician at Apple Store told me that battery replacement was too dangerous for his employees! He said it could burst into flames. He replaced my iphone 6 & downloaded all my settings & apps from iCloud! Wayne's Trivia Note #596 (5 July 2019) Recent trip to Sequoia National Park with all the grandkids. I wanted to impress on them the massiveness of these marvelous ancient trees! Wayne's Trivia Note #597 (5 July 2019) Kern County Earthquakes: I am very fond of Kern County & freight trains passing through tunnels near Tehachapi. As a child I remember the 1952 earthquake. It caused severe damage to RR tracks & tunnels on the way to Bakersfield! In terms of the energy release it was about 90 times stronger than the recent Ridgecrest earthquake! See Tehachapi Freight Trains Wayne's Trivia Note #598 (7 July 2019) The abdomen of this mature Araneus orb weaver in my backyard has gotten so big & heavy that she tears her web when moving. It is approaching the size of my thumbnail. I have tried to help her repair her web but to no avail! [Photographed with 6 megapixel Sony T-9 & uprezzed with Genuine Fractals.] Wayne's Trivia Note #599 (8 July 2019) I typically carry 3 cameras on my hikes: Sony T-9 or T-10 for close-ups at arm's length in stinging ant nests & spider webs; Sony HX-60 for just about every situation including close-up, twilight, caves & 30X telephoto; iPhone 6 for quick shots indoors & outdoors in various situations plus GPS, phone, etc.; In addition, I carry a 4th camera around my neck for special situations like freight trains, scenery, moon, etc: Nikon D-90 or NIkon D-3200. My next camera will probably be an updated Sony HX-camera & possibly a full-frame Nikon. I may need to reduce the number of cameras due to my latest medical affliction called "foot drop." Wayne's Trivia Note #600 (10 July 2019) My population growth page contains the amazing exponential growth rate of Wolffia microscopica, a minute duckweed that I received from University of Delhi, India. In fact, it has the fastest doubling time of any plant. BBC & David Attenborough plan to feature Wolffia budding in a time-lapse film based on information from Wayne's Word! The unusual "golf tee" shape of Wolffia microscopica is unique among all wolffia species. Wayne's Population Growth Page Wayne's Trivia Note #601 (13 July 2019) Small ant from recent trip to Sequoia National Park. Found along pathway to Wuksachi Lodge. In order to properly identify ant species I must become an ant proctologist! Wayne's Trivia Note #602 (16 July 2019) I just received e-mail from George Poinar, paleobiologist at Oregon State University, regarding floral structure of the duckweed Lemna. His claim to fame, the extraction of dinosaur DNA from blood-sucking insects in amber, inspired Michael Crichton's book "Jurassic Park" and the block-buster movie that followed. Wayne's Neotropical Amber Page Wayne's Trivia Note #603 (16 July 2019) In the summer of 1969 I attended Oregon State University on an NSF grant. I took this image of the moon one evening while walking around the campus. There really were 2 men on the moon at this historic moment 50 years ago. Moon images 1 and Moon images 2. In addition, after 50 years I finally found the John Stewart folk song that I heard in Oregon entitled "Armstrong". Wayne's Trivia Note #604 (20 July 2019) The effects of war, pollution and climate change on our beautiful planet Earth are just as relevant today as they were 50 years ago when Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon and when John Stewart wrote his folk song: Armstrong Wayne's Trivia Note #605 (21 July 2019) This summer (2019) my backyard is a haven for orb weaver spiders. If you walk around my pathways you are likely to encounter one! Wayne's Trivia Note #606 (23 July 2019) A most interesting insect discovery on the crushed rock in my backyard! These tiny, well-camouflaged, fast-running mantids typically hunt on the ground. I have only occasionally seen them in the desert and on Owens Peak. Wayne's Trivia Note #607 (24 July 2019) Its monsoon season in our southwest desert region, a good time for ant hunting; however, if you see an approaching storm like this do not walk or drive up a desert riverbed! All text material & images on these pages copyright © W.P. Armstrong